. . .I believe that the British officer will find himself in sympathy with the great thinker on war, who asserts that27 "Of all military virtues Energy in the conduct of Operations has always conduced most to glory and success of arms."3

In the fourth place, to the practical mind will appeal his denunciation of all elaborate plans, because Time is required for all elaborate combinations, and Time is just the one thing that an active enemy will not give us,​—​and his consequent deduction that all plans must be of the simplest possible form. His famous sentence, "In war all things are simple, but the simple are difficult,"4 gives the key to his writings, for to overcome those simple yet great difficulties he regards as the art of war, which can only be done by the military virtues of perseverance, energy, and boldness.

In the fifth place he does not want men to be bookworms, for he says:

"Theory is nothing but rational reflec. . . Read More